{"id":1782,"date":"2014-02-28T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/28-02-2014-die-zeit-criticizes-the-victim-discourse-about-rroma\/"},"modified":"2022-07-27T07:48:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T06:48:57","slug":"28-02-2014-die-zeit-criticizes-the-victim-discourse-about-rroma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/28-02-2014-die-zeit-criticizes-the-victim-discourse-about-rroma\/","title":{"rendered":"28.02.2014 Die Zeit criticizes the victim discourse about Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">In her article in <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Die Zeit, <\/em>Lau (2014) criticizes the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvictim role to which Rroma activists are said to refer to constantly in Germany.  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn the debate about poverty migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, one mainly talks  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tabout the immigrants, but not with them. This also has to do with the focus of the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tactivism of Romani Roses, who has been working for the rights of the Rroma in  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGermany for several decades. Rose focuses his policy on the recognition that Rroma  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twere victims of the Nazi genocide, whereby other topics are to receiving less  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthan enough attention: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">\u201cIronically, the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcentral council and Romani Rose prevent elsewhere that the understanding  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbetween newly arrived Roma and the majority society improves. Since he can  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tremember, Romani Rose fought for the recognition as victims of genocide, a fact  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trepeatedly disputed by historians. [&#8230;] Since they share neither religion nor written  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tculture, there is actually only one link between the Sinti and Roma: the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texperience of persecution. And that is the reason why discrimination is the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcentral topic in the political statements of their community, rather than strategies  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof advancement.\u201d<\/em> Lau\u2019s article tries to find out why there is a lack of  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsolution strategies in the current debate about immigrants from Southeast  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEurope. However, she is wrong when she accuses Rroma to stick to a victim  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstatus. This criticism was already expressed in the beginning of 2013 by another  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthor: In his book <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Zigeuner \u2013 Begegnungen mit einem ungeliebten  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVolk, <\/em>Rolf  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBauerdick criticised the lack of self-initiative in improving the social  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintegration of the Rroma. This criticism is one-sided and hides the mechanisms  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof exclusion. Although it is right that a successful integration involves two sides,  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpromotion and self-initiative, the latter one can only happen if the necessary  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconditions are given. Otherwise, suppression remains the dominant factor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">Just the opposite is  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\targued by the TAZ in its interview with the historian Patricia Pientka. Pientka  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresearched the story of a Rroma detention camp in Berlin-Marzahn. The historian  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis shattered about how bad the persecution of the Rroma in Germany was  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresearched so far, also concerning the Berlin-Marzahn detention camp. In 1936,  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma were selected via by sociographic criteria for the camp: caravans, many children  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand certain profession groups were decisive for the internment as well as the living  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton welfare. In 1938, the pseudo-scientific criteria of the racial hygiene  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tresearch unit under Robert Ritter were implemented. The continuity between the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twar and the post-war period is particularly shocking. Perpetrators from the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNazi era were appointed as experts in courts, where they could play down or even  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tqualify the war horrors with false statements: <em>\u201cIn Berlin and elsewhere, the police departments for \u201cGypsy questions\u201d  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\testablished at end of 1938 are of central importance. In Berlin, the head of  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe department was Leo Karsten. After the war, he was superintendent of the  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpolice of Ludwigshafen and throughout Germany was the appointed expert on  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcompensation issues for Sinti and Roma. His testimony led, among other things, to  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe verdict that the senate didn\u2019t recognize the Marzahn detention camp as a labour  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcamp [&#8230;]. One can definitely say that the racist persecution of Sinti and  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoma in Nazi Germany hasn\u2019t been critically analysed until today. We have a  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thuge deficit. This is also reflected in the case with Roma from South Eastern  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEurope, for instance Serbia, who are absolutely not perceived as descendants of  \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHolocaust victims \u2013 what they definitely are\u201d (Memarnia 2014).<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lau, Mariam (2014) Das falsche Gedenken. In: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Zeit online<\/em> vom 22.2.2014. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zeit.de\/2014\/08\/roma-opferstatus-selbstbild\/komplettansicht\" style=\"font-family: Arial;\">http:\/\/www.zeit.de\/2014\/08\/roma-opferstatus-selbstbild\/komplettansicht<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Memarnia, Susanne (2014) \u201eWir haben da ein grosses Defizit\u201c. In: <em style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Die TAZ online<\/em> vom 21.2.2014. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.taz.de\/NS-Verfolgung-der-Sinti-und-Roma\/!133554\/\" style=\"font-family: Arial;\">http:\/\/www.taz.de\/NS-Verfolgung-der-Sinti-und-Roma\/!133554\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In her article in Die Zeit, Lau (2014) criticizes the victim role to which Rroma activists are said to refer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[601,597,14,15,605,606],"tags":[92,633,124,63,24,640,23,53,133],"class_list":["post-1782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulgaria","category-germany","category-news-eastern-europe","category-news-western-europe","category-romania","category-serbia","tag-discrimination","tag-genocide","tag-holocaust","tag-racism","tag-roma","tag-romani-rose","tag-rroma","tag-sinti","tag-stereotypes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11069,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions\/11069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}